


He is not gorgeous

by Codango



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Awkward Crush, Chance Meetings, Denial of Feelings, Dessert & Sweets, M/M, Meet the Family, Rating for Language, Shopping Malls, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-19
Updated: 2016-03-19
Packaged: 2018-05-27 17:40:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,404
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6293674
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Codango/pseuds/Codango
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This was Haiba Lev, of course. Even out of his team uniform, he was unmistakable. There definitely weren’t two guys in the world who looked like… that. But still! Yaku gave himself a mental shake. Lev was an idiot. A first-year idiot, who hung on Yaku’s every word at practice. Lev, who was all “senpai!” this and “senpai!” that. </p><p>“What’s wrong?” Shiharu whispered. “You lose your nerve?” But her vicious tone was tempered somewhat. “I don’t blame you. He’s more gorgeous the closer we get.”</p><p>“He is not gorgeous,” Yaku argued. It was reflexive, automatic, and wrong. Lev in street clothes was… different. Lev in street clothes surrounded by admiring girls was awful, and Yaku suddenly wanted very badly not to interrupt them.</p>
            </blockquote>





	He is not gorgeous

“Oh my.” 

Yaku looked up from the case of sweets at his sister. Good lord, she actually had her hand over her mouth. “What in the world are you staring at?” He craned his neck to see outside the shop’s front window.

A lanky young man was standing with a couple girls just outside the shop across the way. Well. “Lanky” was only a polite stand-in for “freakishly tall.” Sleek silver hair fell over a foreign face, and Yaku stood up straight. “What the hell?” he breathed.

“I know, right?” Shiharu had yet to take her eyes off the guy. “Do you think there’s like a photoshoot going on at one of the shops? Or some kind of meet and greet?”

Yaku shot her an irritated look. “I can guarantee you that’s not it.”

“You don’t know that.” His sister glared at him. She was halfway through her first year in high school and more stubborn than ever. “He’s probably a European celebrity or an actor or something.”

“Is that so?” Yaku permitted himself an evil smile. He gave the sweets vendor a small bow and walked out of the shop.

“Morisuke? What are you — you are  _ not  _ going to introduce yourself!” Shiharu hissed, hurrying after him. “You’re going to embarrass me, do you even know who he is?!”

“Oh, come on, don’t you want to meet him?” Yaku teased. He grabbed her hand and pulled her along.

Lev hadn’t noticed them yet. He was too busy laughing at something one of the girls with him had said. Yaku slowed his pace, uncertainty flashing in his brain for the first time.

This was Haiba Lev, of course. Even out of his team uniform, he was unmistakable. There definitely weren’t  _ two  _ guys in the world who looked like… that. But still! Yaku gave himself a mental shake. Lev was an idiot. A first-year idiot, who hung on Yaku’s every word at practice. Lev, who was all “senpai!” this and “senpai!” that. 

“What’s wrong?” Shiharu whispered. “You lose your nerve?” But her vicious tone was tempered somewhat. “I don’t blame you. He’s more gorgeous the closer we get.”

“He is not gorgeous,” Yaku argued. It was reflexive, automatic, and wrong. Lev in street clothes was… different. Lev in street clothes surrounded by admiring girls was awful, and Yaku suddenly wanted very badly not to interrupt them.

Just as he was about to swallow his pride entirely and suggest that they go back to the sweets shop, Yaku caught Lev’s eye. The annoying Russian’s face lit up with an enormous, image-shattering grin. “Yaku-senpai!”

Yaku heard Shiharu’s sharp inhale. “Senpai?” she whispered, turning to stare at her brother. Her short, ill-humored brother who definitely had no business knowing a creature that looked like Lev.

Yaku wanted badly to conjure the feeling of superiority he usually had when he was around Lev on a court. It was a glorious perk of being a third-year and a backbone of the Nekoma men’s volleyball team. Unfortunately for Yaku, his brain currently wanted to register Lev as much taller, far better-looking, and vastly more desirable than Yaku could ever hope to be. “Superior” was not what Yaku was feeling at all.

“Yaku-senpai?” Lev’s grin slipped a little. His gaze fell to where Yaku still clutched his sister’s hand. “Are you enjoying the mall today?” Just behind him, the two girls he’d been chatting with exchanged annoyed glances. One of them flicked her long dark hair over a slim shoulder and glared at Yaku.

He swallowed hard. And looked up (way,  _ way  _ up, always) into green eyes that had lost some of their initial enthusiasm. Yaku straightened to his full height.  _ No way  _ was he letting this oak tree of a first-year shake him. 

Yaku lifted his chin and strove for on-the-court confidence. “Just picking up some sweets with my sister. Our mom’s birthday is today.”  _ Oh my god, you are not talking about your mom right now.  _ “We saw you over here, and… I thought we’d say hi,” Yaku finished helplessly.

“Your sister?” Lev stared Shiharu full in the face. Yaku felt her take a half-step backward. Lev grinned, huge and just short of maniacal. “Yaku-senpai’s sister! Hello! I’m Lev, and I’m going to be the ace of Nekoma soon!”

Shiharu choked. “You… you’re a student? At Nekoma?”

“Yes!” Lev stood up straight, adjusting his stylish canvas jacket proudly. “I am grateful to be on Yaku-senpai’s team! I’m a spiker!”

“This is why you should come to games,” Yaku whispered, feeling a bit of satisfaction at Shiharu’s dumbfounded expression. 

“Wait.” One of the girls behind Lev spoke up, irritated. “You’re in  _ high school?_” 

“Oh… Akane-chan, yes?” Lev turned. Yaku had the faint impression that he had forgotten the girls were there. It was horribly satisfying. “Yes, I’m going to be—”

“Oh god.” The girl with the long dark hair adjusted her purse strap. “I am not dealing with high-school boys. Let’s go, Fumi.”

Yaku and Lev watched them leave, their heels clicking on the mall tile. “Those weren’t, ah, friends of yours?” Yaku asked finally.

“They asked me if I knew what time it was.” Lev turned his back to the girls. Yaku wondered if he was even aware he’d been rejected. “And then they thought it was funny I spoke Japanese. I never understand why that is, I’m  _ here _ after all.”

Yaku gaped at him. “Uh huh.”

Shiharu was still glaring after the girls. “Well,  _ I  _ think you’re better off without them, Haiba-san.”

“Me too!” Lev clapped his huge hands, once. “We should get sweets for your mother now! It’s her birthday, you said?”

Yaku blinked. “You — you don’t have to help us with that! Don’t you have your own stuff to do?”

Lev shrugged. “I was going to buy this shirt I liked. It was lime green and had white polka dots. But they laughed when I asked for my size.” He grinned. “So I guess that means I don’t get the shirt.”

“They laughed at you?” Shiharu was appalled. 

Lev rubbed the back of his neck. “It’s a thing that happens a lot.”

Yaku could just imagine that it did. Even if Lev was breathtaking — which he wasn’t — all you had to do was talk to the guy for a couple minutes to shatter the facade. Without a word, Yaku subtly directed the three of them back to the sweets shop. He watched as Lev quizzed Shiharu on their mother’s favorite flavors. It didn’t escape his notice that the girl behind the sweets case couldn’t take her eyes off Lev’s silvery hair and animated expressions. She offered him a free sample. She hadn’t offered Yaku a free sample earlier.

Lev was not gorgeous. Most of the time, he was a goddamn nuisance that Yaku somehow ended up taking care of. Why should it be any different when they were off the court?

* * *

 

Yaku waited until his mother had trapped Lev in conversation before he turned on his sister. “ _What is he doing here?_ ” he demanded between clenched teeth.

Shiharu continued to set out dessert plates on their tiny dining room table. “You couldn’t honestly expect us not to invite him, could you? After helping us pick out the strawberry cremes? Did you see his face?”

Yaku scowled. He had seen Lev’s face. He’d looked away really fast before anyone noticed him staring. 

“Anyway, he’s not hurting anything. Look at Mom.” Shiharu nodded over to the worn loveseat where a Russian giant and a tiny Japanese single mom chattered like old friends. “She is ecstatic to have someone new here.”

Yaku grimaced. “You certainly seem a lot less in awe.”

Shiharu had the grace to blush. “What can I say? The fact that he’s in awe of  _ you  _ makes him a lot less magical.”

Yaku’s eyebrows shot up. But then he nodded. “Well, I’m a third-year, after all. And I have to coach him pretty regularly on receives. So… I suppose. Sure.” It was easier to feel more confident away from a mall filled with things he couldn’t afford and girls who thought he was twelve.

Shiharu stared at him. “Sometimes I forget how big of an idiot you are, and yet you always find new ways to remind me.”

* * *

 

Yaku wasn’t terribly surprised when his mom announced she was going to bed first. She woke up ridiculously early for work, and today had been no exception. They really should have saved her birthday celebration until her next day off, but Shiharu had nearly cried.  _ “You can’t  _ not  _ celebrate on the birthday! Don’t be awful, Morisuke!” _

“Oh no!” Shiharu gave a mock gasp the instant their mother closed her bedroom door. She spun around to face Yaku and Lev, hands on her face in the most theatrical pose he’d seen yet. And he’d seen a lot of them. 

“Yes?” Yaku gathered their plates from the table, eyeing her. Lev shot to his feet to grab his own dishes, nearly throwing his chair to the floor.

“I  _ just  _ remembered.” Dear lord, she put a hand to her forehead. “I have a quiz tomorrow that I simply  _ have not  _ studied for, and if I don’t go and do it  _ right now_…” Shiharu let the sentence trail for dramatic effect. 

“My, my.” Yaku clucked his tongue. “You’d better not help clean up, I expect.”

“I’ll help, Yaku-senpai!” Lev yanked a hand towel from its rack by the kitchen counter. He stood at the ready, his head nearly touching the light above the sink.

“U-um.” Yaku stared. “Sure.” He started to fill the sink with water, settling the plates carefully in the suds. He barely noticed Shiharu slip out of the kitchen.

He worked quietly for a few seconds, hyper aware that Lev was watching him closely. But Lev always watched him closely. He was a gigantic, uneducated man-child, clueless about everything from serve-receives to interacting with humans in a nonoverwhelming way. So, Yaku assumed, Lev watched him to learn how the world worked. Perhaps he was hoping to pick up tips for how to clean chipped dessert plates with cheap dish soap. 

Yaku handed him the first plate. He was proud he didn’t react when Lev’s hand pretty much swallowed his. They were huge, Lev was clumsy… it was nothing. 

Lev laughed softly. “Yaku-senpai is very good at this.”

Yaku stopped breathing for a moment, then resumed scrubbing at a glass. “I guess you could say I’ve had practice.”

“Mm.” Lev rubbed the little plate slowly with the towel. It was completely inefficient, and Yaku was totally not watching out of the corner of his eye. “I’m pretty terrible at it. Mom always says I break things and usually won’t let me help.”

“Try not to break these,” Yaku said quickly. “They’re Mom’s favorite.”

“I don’t actually break things!” Lev shoved his hip into Yaku’s side indignantly. “I can be careful when I try!”

Unfortunately, Yaku hadn’t been expecting the hip check and made a wild grab for the edge of the sink with soapy hands. 

“Augh!” Lev threw the plate back into the water and grabbed Yaku’s upper arm. “I didn’t — I’m sorry—?”

Yaku nearly bit his tongue in half. Lev’s hand went all the way around his bicep, which would have been upsetting if… if Yaku were in a position to feel upset. Lev’s other hand cupped his jaw like it was made of glass. 

“L-let me know when you try to be careful. Lev,” Yaku managed. “‘Kay?”

Lev’s hand dropped from his face. His fingers loosened around Yaku’s arm but didn’t fall away. “I just… it’s hard to remember how small Yaku-senpai is.”

Yaku wanted to feel pissed about this. He wanted to snap like he always did when someone pointed out his height. But with Lev’s bony hip pressing into his side and Lev’s long arm flexed from where he still gripped Yaku’s bicep — it was just a difficult feeling to conjure, somehow. 

He should say something. Probably. He was the third-year, the one who should snap them out of… whatever this was, this  _ thing  _ where the two of them stared at each other with wide eyes and open mouths. 

Lev never did play by the rules. “I’m… glad you saw me today. And, um.” He rubbed his thumb over Yaku’s arm, and Yaku swallowed hard. “I know I sort of invited myself over. And it’s your mom’s birthday and everything, but.” Green eyes flickered to the floor. “Thanks. This was… I liked… I had a good time.”

Yaku raised an eyebrow. Lev, stumbling over words? The guy never seemed to care  _ what  _ stupid thing he was in the middle of saying, he always shouted it with certainty. 

“Well. Well, I think my mom appreciated it.” Yaku thought about pulling his arm away. Somehow he didn’t get to it. “And you didn’t invite yourself. We can blame my sister for that.”

Lev’s eyes met his again. “I didn’t know you had a sister.”

“God, don’t tell her that,” Yaku said, mostly to break the tension. “She’s convinced she’s the most important thing in the universe.” 

“When I saw you at the mall, I thought she was your girlfriend.”

Yaku choked. “M-my—?  _ Please  _ don’t tell her that.”

“Or that you were on a date, at least.” Lev finally let his hand drop from Yaku’s arm. He picked the plate up out of the dishwater and started drying it again. “So. The day turned out better than it could have.”

Yaku wanted… he  _ wanted — _Yaku wanted a lot of things at the moment. Standing at a kitchen sink in a tiny apartment, washing dishes with a kouhai who shouldn’t be so goddamn charming, Yaku would have really liked to feel more in control. 

_ Hey,  _ he could say,  _ tell me why you cared if I have a girlfriend or not.  _

_ Hey, you and I should, you know, maybe hang out sometime. _

_ Hey, you want the day to turn out even better?  _

Yaku picked up a dirty plate and began scrubbing. “Hey,” he said. “We should look online for that shirt you wanted. I bet we can find your size when we’re done.”

Yaku felt more than saw Lev turn toward him. He could imagine that stupid-wide grin as easily as seeing it. Could just picture green eyes going wide. “Yeah! Yeah, we probably could!” 

This time Lev’s nudge was gentle. Yaku still felt a little in danger of losing his feet altogether.

**Author's Note:**

> I really really wanted to write something sexy for these two, but it just wasn't happening. I just cannot picture Lev as being other than very young and kind of stupid and he WASN'T HELPING ME. Maybe sometime I'll get something a bit better out there for this ship, but for now, this is it.
> 
> [@codango](http://codango.tumblr.com/) on Tumblr
> 
> [Marcella Christie](http://marcellachristie.com/) for my alter ego


End file.
